The Rotary Club of
Beckenham


Beckenham Rotary collect £23,000 for Poppy Day
For the third year, Beckenham Rotary Club have organised the Poppy Appeal Collection for the Royal British Legion and this year the collection reached a record of £23,000.  President Nick Randall says a big “Thank You” to the residents of Beckenham, Clock House, Elmers End, Eden Park & Shortlands who all helped to make this year’s Poppy Appeal a success.

The local area British Legion in Beckenham closed 5 years ago through insufficient members.  With this in mind, the Beckenham Rotary Club took over the organisation of the street Poppy Collection and worked hand in hand with Joan Ralph who first started collecting for the appeal 78 years ago before going on to become the Legion area organiser in 1968.  In past years, the Rotary Club only undertook collecting half of Beckenham under the leadership of Joan and her volunteer collectors and the other half was organised and lead by John Bennett and his volunteer collectors.

This year the two areas have been combined and the Rotary Club working with Joan, John and the volunteers have raised a record amount from the people  of Beckenham.  The British Legion are grateful for the work undertaken by these volunteers who stand out in all weathers to make this achievement possible.  When the Beckenham branch of the British Legion closed, Joan Ralph was determined to continue to collect for the British Legion.  Joan who will be 90 next year and is looking forward to planning the next appeal. The Rotary Club of Beckenham and all the Volunteers look forward to working with her.